Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- BAFTA Games Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books to Get a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- We Pitched a Museum a 1993 Game Hint Line (And They Actually Said Yes) – Yarn Spinner (2026)
- The History Of The Word “Metroidvania” And How It Spread – A Critical Hit (2025)
- Creator of Hit Game Shovel Knight Is at a ‘Make or Break’ Moment – Bloomberg (2025)
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history – Design Room (2025)
Most Recent: PC
New Releases: The Sims 3 Supernatural, Everyone Sing
We have to endure one more week of the slow Summer season before the Fall avalache covers us all in a blanket of new games.
But for fans of The Sims, this week sees the release of The Sims 3: Supernatural. The sppoky expansion adds witches, wizards, werewolves, vampires, and fairies to the Sims world as magical spells and shuffling zombie hordes.
Also available this week is Everyone Sing, which is being released for the Wii, the PS3, and the Xbox 360.
Arcadecraft lets you manage an old-timey arcade
Of course, all arcades are old-timey arcades nowadays, however, that hasn’t stopped Firebase Industries from announcing Arcadecraft. The arcade management sim is currently in development for release on the PC and Xbox Live Arcade and it looks amazing.
Arcadecraft will allow players to purchase, position, and redecorate over 100 cabinets based on the 1980-1990 era of arcade games. These cabinets include a few titles clearly based on the classics including Crawlers (Centipede), Space Rocks (Asteroids), Alien Landing (Space Invaders), Gorilla (Donkey Kong), Son of Gorilla (Donkey Kong Jr.), Cybroids 1999 (Robotron 2080) and more.
Be sure to check out the trailer above and the screenshots at Firebase’s official website. As I said, they look amazing. And if you’re going to be attending this weekend’s PAX Prime expo, the guys from Firebase will be roaming the show floor as well. If you ask real nice, maybe they’ll let you have a private demo with the game.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox 360
Tagged Arcadecraft, PAX Prime 2012
Torchlight II hacks and slashes its way onto online stores on September 20
Two years after it was first announced, Runic Games is finally ready to announce a release date for Torchlight II. The dungeon-crawling RPG will be available to download from Runic Games, Steam, Perfect World, GamersGate, GameFly, and GameStop on September 20.
Runic Games’ CEO, Max Schaefer is particularly proud that the company could keep their promise of a Summer 2012 release: “We worked incredibly hard to make sure we could release Torchlight II before Summer’s official end. Development will continue right up until we ship, and we couldn’t be happier to be putting the finishing touches on a great game. We want to get it to the fans as quickly as possible. Honestly, we can’t wait.”
To celebrate the release date announcement (and today’s kickoff for PAX Prime), Runic has released a new trailer, which you can view above.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged PAX Prime 2012, Torchlight II
Sleeping Dogs Review: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wei
Some people like to refer to Sleeping Dogs as “Grand Theft Auto: Hong Kong.” While that’s close to being true – you do steal and drive a lot of cars, and there’s a huge amount of missions you can take on – there’s far more to the game than just a reskinned GTA in a new location. There’s the undercover cop trope, giving it a detective feel. There’s the constant and very robust melee system, bringing in a lot of fun combat. And, of course, there’s fantastic character development, from Uncle Po to Broken Nose Jang to Wei Shen himself. No, this isn’t just GTA in Hong Kong. This is Sleeping Dogs, and it’s an animal all its own. (more…)
Techland goes from Dead Island straight to Project Hell
Polish developer Techland is following up its zombie hit Dead Island with a dark fantasy hack ‘n’ slash game, codenamed Project Hell. Rather than following the isometric view of the similarly dark fantasy-styled Diablo series, Techland has opted for a first person perspective. The game will be set in the time period when Europeans practiced pagan rituals at the same time they allegedly converted to Christianity.
Project Hell originated after some of Dead Island’s development team began experimenting with the weapon mechanics of their zombiefest. Beginning life as a Dead Island mod, one hopes it plays better than that title, given that it’s more famous for its trailer by Axis Animation than the game itself. It does appear that Techland has recognised this, by creating a development blog, Sharpen Your Axes!, which will allow gamers to comment on the progress and direction of the game. It is the developer’s hope that this open collaboration will help improve the quality of the title.
Project Hell is currently only in development for PC, but Techland has stated that it will look to port it to consoles if successful. The company also promised there will be no unicorns. This is “dark” fantasy after all.
Home is where the Hearthfire is in Skyrim this September
Bethesda will be bringing elements of domestic bliss to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with “Hearthfire,” a newly announced add-on for the already massive RPG. The DLC will be available to download first on Xbox Live on September 4 for 400 Microsoft Points ($5). PC and PS3 versions will presumably come later.
Rather than a full-fledged expansion, “Hearthfire” adds a little bit of Minecraft and The Sims to the world of Skyrim. Players will be able to purchase a plot of land and build the house of their dreams (or the shack of their dreams, if that’s what they prefer). Fans of Curb Appeal and Trading Spaces can further decorate their new abode with furniture and knick-knacks built using the new crafting table feature.
And once they have a threshold to walk over, players can even move in their spouse and adopt (and raise) children. Let’s just hope they don’t get eaten by a giant…
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
New Releases: Madden NFL 13, Ratchet & Clank Collection, God of War Saga, More
Summer is almost over, but that just means there’s still one more week for publishers to put out a few more Summer games.
An August tradition, this week’s biggest new release is Madden NFL 13. The EA Sports mainstay will make it to the Xbox 360, PS3, Vita, and Wii this week, with a Wii U version scheduled for release later this year.
Also available this week is a quartet of Sony-published PS3 collections including the Ratchet & Clank Collection (which is available on the PS3 for the first time), the God of War Saga, the InFamous Collection, and the Journey: Collector’s Edition.
Finally, peripheral maker Mad Catz has jumped into the game publishing business with Damage Inc: Pacific Squadron WWII for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
Wait, I almost forgot one… Sandman: Whispered Stories, a budget PC title, is also new in stores this week.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Madden NFL 13, Ratchet & Clank Collection
Harmonix is gearing up for a next-gen “combat game”
Harmonix, a company best known for its musical franchises, such as Rock Band and Dance Central, is apparently moving in a brand new direction for its next title. A job advertisement on Gamasutra shows the company is actively seeking a “Combat Designer to create real-time, single-player combat experiences for a brand new IP on next-generation hardware.”
The ad is also seeking someone who can create “robust combat AI systems for minor and major combat encounters,” which certainly sounds a world away from the musical titles that have made the company’s name. Although never fear, Harmonix still needs to butter their bread and is rumored to be working on a pair of as-yet-untitled music projects for both the 3DS and PS Vita.